School starts tomorrow! Honestly, I am EXCITED. I never thought I'd be saying this but yes, the hols have been too long and far too boring. I'm actually looking forward to getting back to that classroom environment and lectures with my friends tomorrow! :P
So anyway, like 14% of the people who've done our Friends of NP poll here http://www.np.edu.sg/np_friend/, I was B-O-R-E-D today and entertaining myself by checking out the vids on YouTube (it's heartening to know that when boredom strikes, the second most popular reaction, after facebooking is...raiding the fridge. So it seems Germaine is not alone!) when i chanced on this:
Sentosa's award-winning, multi-sensory show 'Songs of the Sea'. Now I'm a sucker for stuff like that - pyrotechnics, water jets, lasers, cool computer imaging. What always floors me, is that everything syncs perfectly with the music. It really got me thinking - how does it all work? Then of course, the stars aligned and I just happened to see this:
http://www.np.edu.sg/soe/outreach/competition/musical/Pages/default.aspx
As part of Engineering Week 2009, Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Electrical Engineering division is organising a Musical Fountain Workshop/Competition for secondary school students! Simply put, you lucky people will get to program a water fountain to boogie to music! All inspired, I snooped around and found this 2006 pix of students hard at work during the competition:
Now, lemme guess what's running through the area between your ears. "NO WAY I'm gonna go there and make a fool of myself in front of all these smarties!'' Well, here are some words of wisdom- NOBODY knows how to operate a musical fountain. Well, at least not 99.9% of us. In any case, this isn't all about winning medals (though if you're into that, attractive prizes await the top three teams :P). It's all about being creative!
See the word 'WORKSHOP'? That means you'll first be taught everything you need to know before the big competition. Prior programming knowledge is not necessary, and apparently "all you need is to be game, creative and bold!" Sounds like you? During the workshop, you'll get to learn how to program the Programmable Logic Controller (commonly used in the industrial automation world) on a desktop PC to generate and control lighting patterns and dance sequences. The best is of course saved for the last where you'll have the opportunity to test your program on an actual musical fountain in NP!
So if you're the sort of student who doodles on your hand (don't worry, I still am), your homework and everwhere else, then come on down and let your creativity run wild!
I used to grumble to the other bloggers that life's so unfair. In our time (not that we're much older than you), nobody ever tells us about all these exciting things happening outside of secondary school. So if you're a sec school student reading this, BE HAPPY! Now go find a couple of friends, and tell your teacher to help you sign up for this. They're only 40 places available, so you've gotta act fast!
Remember, the event takes place on the 22nd and 23rd of October, that's THIS THURSDAY AND FRIDAY! Hope to see you there! (=